Roger the Chapman, hero and narrator of Sedley's late 15th-century series (The Plymouth Cloak, etc.), has again recounted a rich and wonderful tale. The Wars of the Roses having lasted for decades, the English people are weary of civil war and anxious to settle down to peace, quiet and prosperity. Not slow off the mark, a wealthy Bristol weaver and civic leader, Albert Weaver, has been acquiring a fortune that he intends to leave to his surviving daughter, his son having been apparently murdered several years earlier (Death and the Chapman). When Albert accepts a young man who arrives in the town as his "dead" son, his daughter Alison is shocked and unbelieving; she thinks "Clement" is a well-coached impostor, and enlists Roger's aide in unmasking him and his fellow conspirators. Roger agrees to try to establish the truth, and over the next few months undertakes journeys that will lead him among the middle-class merchants and craftsmen of England, into the London "stews" and to brief encounters with the feuding nobles on whose rivalry the future of England may well rest. These journeys also lead Roger to greater self-awareness, as well as a better understanding of the superstitions that shape medieval minds. Throughout, Sedley's well-drawn characters act consistently and credibly. In the end the author wraps up a complex plot, which includes the possibility that Clement is actually the weaver's son, in a satisfyingly tidy bundle. This book is sure both to please those already acquainted with Sedley's work and to win new converts. (Sept. 17)
